1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190 
THE It NICHE 1
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Niche bodyvvork needn't be expensive and can greatly improve operational efficiency Sharon Clancy reports.
The UK is the place for niche or customised bodywork. No European country has taken to its heart more the adage that the bodywork must suit the load being carried to achieve the greatest operational efficiencies. UK bodybuilders have the skills and expertise to deliver this. even within the constraints of modern
manufacturing pl ants, where standardisation has been widely adopted to reduce costs and hasten build times.
Customers are demanding more bespoke bodywork now than five years ago, according to Stephen Cartwright. director of Cartwright Group."Standard bodywork is faster and cheaper to build, hut for many of our customers, that is less important than getting a body that contributes to the efficiency of the operation."' Customising bodywork does not have to involve huge expense. points out Cartwright. "It can be as simple as specifying the loadrestraint system to suit a particular load, such as the padded roll-bar restraints we incorporated in bodies for TNT Logistics for a contract carrying delicate loads."
There is some uncertainty over the impact Whole Body Type Approval will have on UK operators' penchant for niche bodywork.
Cost constraints mean that not every body permutation will be put through the expense of type approval, but the scheme may still offer sufficient flexibility to allow operators to get the bodies best suited to their operation, says Jarvis MacDonald. managing director of bodybuilder Trumae.
Light vans and trucks The demand for niche bodywork has now penetrated the 35 1o7.5-tonne body market, traditionally the mainstay for standard I ,uton. boxvan,curtainsider or dropsider bodies.' leading bodybuilders now offer fast-build programmes for these bodies—but even h bolted designs and production flow syster allow some degree of customisation. Ingir andTiprnaster can customise light tippers dropsiders from standard kits, for exampll Boa lloy's Fastruck boxvan plant prod 50 vehicles a week using a twin flowline assembly system. "The body design and production are designed for flexibility," says managing directorJim Gibb."If we didn't have that flexibility, we'd lose customers A similar flowline production facility has been established at the main site at Congleton for 7.5-tonne and 17-tonne curtainsided rigids.
On a 3.5-tonne GVW chassis, body designs play a crucial role in maximising payload potential. A box body with a simple racking system might add only one tonne in weight, for example. A 3.5-tonne temperature-controlled box body with refrigeration system, on the other hand. will add 1.200 to 1,250kg in weight. including driver and fuel.
Choosing the right chassis can be crucial and don't assume that newer chassis are lighter than the ones they replace: the new MercedesBenz Sprinter is I (X)kg heavier than the old model on a like-for-like basis
Niche light bodies
Glass-carrying bodies come in various shapes and sizes, some bespoke and others standard. St Helens-based Supertrucks' new range for3.5-tonners includes an inclinometer. improved rubber base blocks with side reflectors, reflective white safety markers and a pole rest .The bodies now have a test certificate to show the safe maximum working load. Glass-securing systems include a System 3 securing pole to speed up loading times.The over-centre toggle action is designed to make securing glass sheets to the rack a fast and simple operation.
The growth in parking enforcement in the UK has created demand for small vehicles with security protection for emptying meters and parking machines. "The aim is to protect employees, not the money."e xplains Jarvis MacDonald of Trumac. which has developed cash-carrying vehicles for Fraikin."Modern cash-carrying vehicles have sophisticated alarms with panic buttons to delay entry to the vehicle."
Not your usual body
Higher up the weight range.customised bodies can be found everywhere from delivery vehicles and mobile shops to offices and livestock carriers.
Bespoke temperature-controlled bodies have become something of a speciality for Gray and Adams' rigid body division at Doncaster. which builds everything from mobile butcher shops to livestock bodies "Live chicks are a very delicate cargo,explains sales managerAndrew Brown. "Correct heating.cooling and ventilation is essential for the comfort of the chicks in their journey from the hatchery to the rearing farm."
The mobile butcher's shop is based on an 18-tonne chassis-cab. It has a frozen food compartment at the front. an intermediate bulkhead and a serving counter at the rear. The freezer compartment is accessed through a twin-leaf side door, preferred over a single door to eliminate access problems on narrow sites or streets.
"Vehicles selling food have to comply with food hygiene regulations and are subject to random spot checks by environmental health inspectors, making hygiene a key priority in the body design,says Brown.
All the metal is stainless steel or aluminium and there are no sharp corners on shelves or steps where members of the public might injure themselves.There are hand-washing facilities and a tank to capture waste water.
Lengthy matter
Body length is perhaps the most frequent variation demand, even on the same wheelbase. "There are constraints on delivery sites and different load configurations, all of which mean variations in body length," points out Cartwright.
Bread delivery operations have a long tradition of niche bodywork to speed up loading and unloading operations. he says. Cartwright's latest bodies for British Bakeries feature 8.7m bodies on Daf 14-to inc chassis. The floor is designed to cope with the continual sliding on and off of bread baskets and comprises 19mm plywood with a 3mm deep alloy tread plate that makes the sliding of breadbaskets onto the trailer simpler and faster. Corrugated alloy kick strips protect the side walls and there are captive load bars for load securing.
The translucent roof provides natural daylight for delivery drivers to work in. but also means there is no protection from the sun when temperatures rise. Rather than install complex refrigeration equipment to control tempe rature, the company has opted for the simpler solution of incorporating white reflective strips down either side of the roof.
Easy access vehicles
Niche bodywork can mean specifying a slightly more expensive version of standard bodywork. Captive curtains, for example. offer even faster access to the load than conventional curtainsiders faster even than buckleless curtainsiders. Don-Bur's Sl ide-aSider offers fast and restriction-free access and is popular in the drinks delivery sector.The curtain is captive in the side raver and biased so it concertinas outwards."We've added anti-vandal panels to deliver similar levels of security to those you would expect from a boxvan body." explains engineering director Andy Richardson.
Richardson says more operators are customising vehicles to improve the safety of the loading and unloading operation:"Foldout access steps in place of a pull-out ladder are becoming popular and we're fitting more grab handles inside doors." Another trend, says Boalloy. is for access steps or platforms along the side.
Quite often niche bodywork goes hand in hand with niche chassis specification -drinks deliveries vehicles are a classic example of this approach, where companies are prepared to invest in customised vehicles for operational efficiencies. Brewers pioneered the concept of long-bodied 18 and 26-tonne chassis with rear-steer axles to increase payload without compromising manoeuvrability.
Another brewery challenge to bodybuilders was to reduce the loading floor height to 1,100mm from a more typical 1,150mm to 1,200mm. Although there are bene I its in manual handling from lower floor heights. it requires extensive chassis re-engineering, Smaller tyres and wheels also have an impact on operational costs," points out Richardson. "That's one reason there are fewer of these bodies being ordered today" Plant carriers
Constraints on delivery access are not confined to urban deliveries. "Access to construction sites is a major issue these days." says fan Wilde, managing director of Wildes Plant Hire."Our latest vehicle is an 18-tonne Scania P230 as it enables us to deliver h machines where a six-wheeler or low-k wouldn't typically fit."
At 7.6m long, the bespoke-built lowprofile plant body offers a deck height II is five inches lower than a normal beavei producing lower ramp and beavertail ar angles to make loading and unloading The body features two 25w-long. lm wi hydraulic ramps and hydraulic steady le together with an electric 8,000lb Supers It carries a range of plant from excavato: and dumpers through to telescopic matt handlers.tractors and compaction equir Don-Bur's Coverall offers weather protection to plant and goods tradition carried on a flatbed, including steel coil plant. Based on a flatbed chassis, a serie rigid hoops are spaced along the length the vehicle, with rollers at the base, runt inside the specialist side rave tracks.A reinforced removable PVC cover is stri across the hoops.The canopy is quick al to push,says Don-Bur. and concertinas either to the front or rear of the body w man operation.
Mobile offices
There is a healthy market in niche body for mobile operations such as banks all libraries. A side-access door on a box hi can become an entrance door on a librE example.
Paneltex hasjust delivered a vehicle will be used to take the local benefits ch office out on the road to reach resident! claiming benefits.The vehicle is on a Mi Mega 1218 chassis.The front of the cab the doors were retained, but it has a wic cab at the door B-post to allow the orig: doors to blend into the new, wider body